Customers most agreed on the following attributes:
The fastest card reader I ever had
When hooked up to Firewire 800 port on my iMac, downloading a 4GB SanDisk Extreme IV CF card takes no time at all. This is especially important to me since I have the occasional need to download card(s) right before running out of the house for one of my children's events.
I am a Windows guy, but bought my wife a new iMAC to replace her old computer. She is a photo hobbist with a Canon Rebel EOS camera. Using a USB 2.0 it took lots of time for the large .JPG files to download from the camera. As a matter of fact it was enough time for her to fix my dinner. Now with the card reader she can barely get out of her office. Great for her, but not so good for my food consumption.
Despite having a firewire connection on my PC, nothing happens when I hook this thing up. Maybe it only works on Apple computers? No directions, no drivers, nothing. Apparently you're supposed to plug it in an it's supposed to work (my USB stuff does). Maybe I'm a moron but this has ben complete waste of money.
This Firewire card reader is much faster than my Sandisk USB 2.0 card reader. It's a little more expensive, but it saves a lot of download time if you take a lot of pictures. I've had zero problems with it on my Mac.
Fast and without flaws. Excellent construction.
This is the best card reader for transferring images to a computer. You simply cannot beat the speed and reliability, esp on a Mac.
Down load pictures to Mac Book Pro in to Aperture. Down load time about 2 Times as fast.
This product saved me lots of time. Before using a Compact Flash Reader took 50mins to transfer 4GB. Now it takes 7 minutes to transfer 4GB with the Firewire reader. Wow!!! What a difference.
It does what it's s'posed to. Comes with FW400 and 800 cables. With the rebate it's a bargain.
Images shared by: Chonkbackup drive to Deva recorder
Tags: Picture of Product
If you take lot of pictures and your tired of waiting for pictures to download directly off your camera or from a USB 2.0 CF card reader, this little thing leaves them in the dust!! If you have a MacPro/MacBook Pro/New iMac just plug into your FireWire 800 and it's off and running, nothing to download or install!
I had about 800 pictures on a 4GB CF card take about 40 mins. from a USB 2.0 card reader and when I ran it through this thing it was about 10 mins. (maybe less). This thing is fast, fast, fast... I love it! It makes USB 2.0 look like it's sleeping!!! So wake up and buy one now you won't regret it!
Good reader but it lacks a USB port. It works super fast with the firewire, but if you have a notebook with a 4 pin firewire port, this reader will not work for you.
this is card reader #5 for me and it might be the last [ cf ] as it's build is much better than anything i have. it's a lot better than your average card reader.
Great construction, but a real challenge to hook to my Dell laptop. Cables included weren't enough to make the connection - there's a 1394b to 1394b and a 1394b to six-pin FW, but no four-pin FW cable included.
I got this to move the larger (file size) photos from my new camera to my hard drive. The USB cable solution was slow and burned the camera battery. This little thing is very fast and looks well built (I've been using it for a week so no long term experience yet). I use 4 and 8 GB CF cards and it can take forever to download a full card using the camera's USB port. This is a much better solution.
My only wish would be a "slide out of the side" style connector so I could lose the cable when travelling.
made my other card readers look like juke. so fast you will only use this reader. to bad it only works with cf cards.
Okay, the speed to download using the 1394b port on my PC is out of this world!! Super-fast compared to USB 2.0. One of the best purchases I have made recently.
This is THE way to transfer data from a digital camera's compact flash card to computer. Takes full advantage of FireWire's rapid transit capability. I am, by the way, a Mac user.
[1 of 3 customers found this review helpful]
I've never seen a laptop w/out 6 pin Firewire. It works perfectly on any Mac laptops with Firewire 400, 800 or 800 converted to 400 & vice versa (if your 400 or 800 is in use by another peripheral that can't be "daisy chained").
Only improvement would be ability to "daisy chain" peripherals like these - but would would increase size & cost!
[3 of 4 customers found this review helpful]
DO NOT BUY this product if you are planning on using in in a laptop that has a 4 pin Firewire port only. I purchased this product and a 9 pin to 4 pin cable so that I could use it on my laptop. Per Sandisk the reader will not work with a 4 pin connection. [...]...I am sure the reader is fine if you use it on a desktop..
Super fast! Get a card that can keep up with it, like the SanDisk Extreme IV. I use the 8 gig with this reader after a day of shooting weddings and it's nice to finally have a blazing fast upload to my computer. Plus, the FireWire connection is nice so I don't have to disconnect a USB from my MacBook Pro.
I was told that this product would go slightly faster than USB 2. Talk about underestimating. This is MUCH faster than a USB card reader and i well worth the money when you're working with 8GB cards. A real winner!
Works great Mac and PC. Very fast. Very small and compact.
Although this reader is a priced a bit high the performance of the product added by the speed produced will easily make up for the priced paid. By matching up this reader to a extreme IV card and using the 800 to 800 cable i am able to transfer 3.8 gigs of raw photos in a little over 3 min.
[0 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
The best time saving investment this year.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
My time becomes more valuable day by day. I thought it couldn't get any faster to download images from my CF cards. When I attach the Firewire 800 cord (included) to my Quad Core 2 Mac Pro, a 2 gig card is downloaded in a little over 2 minutes.
Now I can't wait to upgrade my MacBook Pro to a Quad Core 2 so I can have a Firewire 800 port. In the meantime SanDisk was nice enough to include a 800 to 400 adapter cord in the package.
Boarding House Bedroom, Thomas Wolfe House
Tags: Made with Product
[0 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
this card reader is a life saver. i loaded over 550 raw files (30D) in less than 2 minutes!! saves me so much time. its small and easy to take with you as well.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
Nothing in the [...] description states that this will not work with a 4 pin Firewire port. Upon arrival I found in small print in the manual that this reader must have 6 or 9 pin port. I have yet to find a laptop that has more than 4 pin port so essentially this is a desktop only device. Perhaps more technical knowledge of Firewire 400/800 specs would have helped me, but I think it should have been made more clear.
[0 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
Product delivers as promised. simple to set up and carry with you. very reliable and extremely fast. money well spent!!
[0 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
It is a cinch to set up and it does what it is supposed to do!
[0 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
Probably the fastest reader out there. Photos import into my Mac over Firewire 800 really, really fast. Works as advertised, and is fast. I've owned several readers over the years, some Firewire based and some USB 2.0 based. This one beats them all in terms of speed. I also like the compact size. Very easy to travel with you and your MacBook Pro.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
The Multi card reader on my PC tower gave out, So i gave this a try, works great, the FireWire is so fast!
The speed is perfect for sports tournaments.
Shot from State Tournament
Able to download easily Photos with 800 Firewire
[1 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
Only problem could be - if you misplace the (supplied) Firewire 800 to Firewire 800 cable, or Firewire 800 to Firewire 400 cables you'll find them a little harder to replace than the more ubiquitous 400-400.
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
This is a great product and it is very fast as they said it would be. It looks stylish with the aluminum finish which fits well with my Powerbook and also blends in with my aluminum desktop casing as well.
Can't really ask for more in such a wonderful product. I am very very happy with my purchase.
It may be expensive, but if you want the sturdiest and fastest card reader, this is definitely it.
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
I use this EXTREMR IV CARDREADER specifically for its download speed, I have a MAC DUAL G5 WITH the adobe CS2/CS3 ADOBE LIGHTROOM softwaer Iam also using the 800 port, I donot have the extrem iv cf card because the price for now is to high, Iam using lexar 133x cf cards the speed I get with extreme IV IS MUCH faster the my lexar firewire reader (#rwo19001 ).